Shapps ‘under fire for amber watch list plan’
Grant Shapps is under fire today after reports that it was the transport secretary who first came up with the government’s now-axed “amber watch list” travel plan.
Under the “amber watch list” category, countries on the “amber list” could be designated as being at risk of moving to the “red list” at short notice.
Holidaymakers returning from “red list” destinations face paying £1,750 on return to quarantine for 10 days in selected hotels.
Such plans provoked fury from the Tory back benches amid fears that they could see thousands of people have to cancel their travel plans.
Late last night Boris Johnson scrapped the idea, saying he wanted to make the travel system “as simple and user-friendly for people as possible”.
Today the Times reported that it was Shapps who first introduced the policy, before briefing against it over the weekend.
Two sources said that he had been the “architect” of the policy, which he shared with the Cabinet at a Covid-O meeting two weeks ago, the Times said.
A Whitehall source said: “The Department for Transport came up with this policy, briefed it, briefed against it, then blamed the prime minister.”
The DfT declined to comment on the report, although a source close to the transport secretary told Politico that others in the Cabinet had mooted the policy before him.
The travel sector welcomed the decision to quash the policy, saying that people wanted a “clear and consistent” travel system.
The decision comes ahead of the government’s latest review of the traffic travel light system, which is due on Thursday.
Travel experts have said that a number of countries could be added to the “green list”.